The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner

ISBN: 978-0465002306

290 PAGES

A few weeks ago, I heard Tony Wagner speak in New York. I was so impressed with what he said about skills students need exiting school today that I wanted to learn more. Published in 2008, Wagner's work has influenced policy making decisions across our country's schools. He contends that, while there many criticize public schools, the criticism is misguided. He argues that schools have not failed; rather, schools have become obsolete. This is a major shift in a time when "accountability and sanctions" are the methods of modern school reform. Thus, while the world has progressed in terms of technologies, global awareness, and networking, schools, on the whole, have struggled to shake off the old models developed during an agrarian-era mindset. For instance, while it may have been important to know information that was only accessible in books in the past, today facts and information are everywhere and everyone has access to them. So, today it is less important to know information, and more important to know how to use it or what it means in relationship to achieving a goal. This, he argues, should be the direction of reforming our schools.

He researched the essential skills needed in order for someone to be successful and get desirable jobs coming out of high school and college today. Working backwards, he says that before students leave school today they should have some key skills developed over time, and he argues strongly for a movement away from memorizing content (traditional schooling) to developing competencies. He boils these competencies down to what he calls the seven survival skills teens should exit school with today:

1. CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING
2. COLLABORATION ACROSS NETWORKS AND LEADING BY INFLUENCE
3. AGILITY AND ADAPTABILITY
4. INITIATIVE AND ENTREPRENEURIALISM
5. EFFECTIVE ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
6. ACCESSING AND ANALYZING INFORMATION
7. CURIOSITY AND IMAGINATION

I would recommend this book for parents and educators alike looking for schools that are aiming to transform themselves into a modern place of learning for the modern world.